Mild Arachnophobia
by Uh.yeah
Summary: Rose finds an unwelcome visitor in her bed and it's up to the Doctor to sort it out. Light hearted bit of fun, really.


**A/N: **I've been away from ffn for quite a while and, sadly, I think it shows in this fic. But bear with me. Please read and review? It's my first ever Ten fic. It doesn't really go anywhere, but still. I'm trying Ten out, if you see what I mean. Ahem.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it. But if I did….

* * *

The scream was loud, shrill and desperate and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. 

In two seconds flat, he had thrown himself down the corridor from the control room and burst into her room.

"Rose," he demanded, urgently, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Rose sat directly in the centre of her large double bed and appeared to be frozen. She was sitting upright, all her muscles tensed, while her eyes were wide and staring at a fixed point on her pink bed covers.

"Rose?" asked the Doctor, gently, coming closer. "Is something..."

He stopped and his face broke into a huge grin when he saw what she was staring at.

"You know," he began conversationally, folding his arms and standing at the foot of the bed, "for someone who's managed to battle Daleks, Slitheen and a whole host of alien enemies, you don't half make a lot of fuss over one little spider."

"It's not little," said Rose through gritted teeth, noticing him for the first time, "It's a bloody big one. And," she continued, not moving her eyes, "it's in my _bed_."

"It's not all that big," commented the Doctor, nonchalantly, "Besides, I've always been told that they're much more afraid of you than you are of them."

"I doubt that very much. Anyway, I'm normally fine with spiders. It's only when they're bigger than my hand and have blood-coloured fangs that I have trouble."

"Does it have blood-coloured fangs?" asked the Doctor, curiously, "Let's have a look."

"Don't come from that direction!" shrieked Rose, as he leaned in at the foot of the bed, "You'll make it move towards me!"

"Sorry," apologised the Doctor seriously, putting his glasses on in one practiced motion and walking carefully round the bed. He leant in next to Rose, brandishing the Sonic Screwdriver.

"Well," he exclaimed, as the blue ray scanned it, "that's beautiful!"

Rose snorted.

"No, really, it is. It has a highly established metabolism which allows it to ingest organisms with up to three times its own personal biomass. And on top of that, its fangs contain a rare solution from the Upper Pherocretians that it can secrete on demand. Beautiful."

"Alright," said Rose with forced control and not really listening, "enough with the Sonic Screwdrivering. Get. This. Off. My. Bed."

"Oh, right," responded the Doctor, noticing how the blood had drained from her face, "Right, I'll just, uh, pick it up, shall I?"

"For God's sake!" yelled Rose as he started cupping his hands around it, "Don't touch the thing. Just put it in the mug by my bed and cover it with paper. That's what I used to do for Mickey."

The Doctor snorted, but did as she asked.

"The mug's just big enough," he announced cheerfully, while Rose groaned, "Good thing you're such a pig when it comes to tea."

"Whatever. I can never drink out of that again now," answered Rose, in disgust, "How the hell did that thing get in my room in the first place?"

"I don't know. Maybe it scuttled in past us when we came in, one time? Although, to be honest, I don't actually recognise this particular breed of spider..."

He watched Rose in fascination as a scratching sound from the mug had her recoiling in horror.

"Well," he began, trying hard not to laugh, "I'll just go get rid of this. Shall I kill it?"

"What? I don't want you to kill it, you moron. I just don't want it anywhere near my room. Ever again."

"Right, got you," replied the Doctor, smiling happily to himself, as he set off down the corridor, carrying the mug.

"I might go and try to identify it," he called back over his shoulder.

"Yeah, you go do that," muttered, Rose darkly as she cautiously began relaxing her tensed muscles. "And I always thought I was safe in the TARDIS..."

Gingerly, she stretched out on her bed and tried taking a couple of deep breaths to regain her composure.

She was a lot more cheerful when the Doctor returned to her room, half an hour later. She had put some music on and was singing along, but turned it down when he came in.

"My hero," she smiled at him, fluttering her eyelashes slightly.

"Rose," he began hesitantly, "did that thing bite you at all?"

"_Bite _me?" repeated Rose, sitting bolt upright, her eyes widening in horror, "I should bloody well think not. No, it didn't. Why?"

"Oh, just, you know," he continued, with some agitation, "ran a few tests, discovered it was highly poisonous - well, I say 'poisonous', but 'deadly' would be a more accurate word. Or, even, 'lethal'. That's a good one, too. Anyway, nothing new, but just thought I'd check it hadn't bitten you, because obviously that would have been very bad. But thinking about it, it can't have bitten you, because you'd be dead by now. So all's well that ends well and let's not panic."

He smiled at Rose reassuringly, while she just stared at him.

"Deadly," she intoned.

"Yep," replied the Doctor, perching slightly nervously on the edge of her bed.

"It was in my bed," she stated.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Can't think how it got in, actually. You haven't made the TARDIS mad at you recently, have you?"

"No," answered Rose, "Why, would she do that to me if I had?"

"Hard to say," said the Doctor, carelessly, "her methods of revenge are not always that predictable. Anyway, I promise no deadly spider will ever enter your room again."

"Will you build me a special spider protection device?" asked Rose, widening her eyes at him.

"Right away," smiled the Doctor, "This room will be a No Man's Land for spiders big and small."

"Great," grinned Rose. "Now how about some tea? I could do with some to calm my nerves."

"Humans." said the Doctor with affected disgust, but getting up anyway, "And more than that, British humans. You think a cup of tea will solve anything."

"Well," said Rose, following him out the bedroom door and closing it carefully behind her, "you're the one who showed me it can."

* * *

Not too sure about the ending – think it was a bit off - but please, please tell me what you think. I've been away so long I feel starved of reviews…. :smiles appealingly: 


End file.
